Kabul, February 24: A new classified directive to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan puts restrictions on staging nighttime raids on Afghan homes and compounds, a US official has said.
According to a US official who declined to be identified, the directive has been signed by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan.
“The document orders forces to use Afghan troops at night ‘whenever possible’ to knock on doors of residences and compounds, and to use them if forcible action is required for entry,” the official said.
The move is seen as an attempt to decrease civilian casualties during coalition force operations in Afghanistan. Nighttime raids in which troops enter private homes have sparked discontent among Afghans.
This is all while on Tuesday, NATO’s secretary-general defended the war in Afghanistan saying support for the mission is still strong.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who spoke at Washington’s Georgetown University late Monday, claimed that NATO troops were doing all they could to minimize the number of civilian casualties in the war-torn country.
“It’s not just theory. During recent years our troops in Afghanistan have succeeded in reducing the number of civilian casualties significantly and we have to continue to minimize that number,” the NATO head said.
Rasmussen’s remarks come only two days after a NATO air raid killed 27 civilians, including women and a child, in the central province of Uruzgan.
The strike which targeted three civilian vehicles also left a dozen people wounded.
The incident is considered the third mistaken NATO air strike reported by Afghan officials in a week.
——Agencies